1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for checking battery power consumption, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for informing a mobile terminal user that he/she entered a location where power consumption of the mobile terminal is high.
2. Description of the Related Art
Saving battery power is very important to mobile terminal users. An important development in mobile terminal technology was to provide an indicator or icon to display the remaining battery level of a battery of a mobile terminal. A general method for displaying the remaining battery level of a mobile terminal is to schematically display battery voltage level on a display of the terminal and alert the user of a low battery level with a beeping or buzzing sound if the remaining battery level is reduced below a predetermined level. However, the conventional battery level display method simply displays the remaining battery level, and cannot inform the user of an amount current battery power being consumed by the terminal during the use of certain functions of the mobile terminal.
A description will now be given of how the conventional terminal displays battery power level with reference to FIG. 2, which is a flow chart showing a conventional method for informing a user of battery power consumption of a mobile terminal. First, if a mobile terminal is powered on at step 200, the procedure moves to step 202 to detect the battery voltage level of the terminal. Then, at step 204, it is determined if the battery voltage level has been detected a predetermined number of times. If the battery voltage level has been detected the predetermined number of times, the procedure moves to step 206 to calculate an average of the detected battery voltage levels. If not, the procedure returns to step 202. At step 208, the procedure compares the average voltage level calculated at step 206 with a previously stored average voltage level. If the average voltage level calculated at step 206 is equal to the previously stored average voltage level, the procedure moves to step 202 to redetect the battery voltage level. On the other hand, if the average voltage level calculated at step 206 is lower than the previously stored average voltage level, the calculated average voltage level is displayed at step 210.
As described above, in the conventional method, the mobile terminal cannot inform the user if it is located in an area where its power consumption is high, but simply displays the remaining battery voltage level. The conventional mobile terminal has high power consumption if it is located in a dead zone or a weak signal strength area where it is difficult to receive radio signals. However, if the user uses the terminal without knowing that it is located in such a high power consumption area, the battery time is reduced, compared to when the terminal is located in an area where it receives normal radio signals. For this reason, the user needs to be informed of whether the mobile terminal is currently located in a high power consumption area.
As described above, in the prior art, even when the mobile terminal is located in an area where the battery power consumption is rapidly varying, the terminal cannot provide the user with any information as to whether it is located in such an area. The user may continue to use the terminal without being aware of such a situation, with the result that battery power is rapidly consumed.